Leland Hickman (September 15, 1934 – May 12, 1991) was an

American poet The poets listed below were either born in the United States or else published much of their poetry while living in that country. A B C D E F G H I–J K L M N O P Q *George Quasha (born 1942 in poetry, 1942) R ...

, editor,

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

, and literary magazine publisher. During his lifetime, Hickman was best known as the publisher and editor of the influential magazine ''Temblor'' which was noted for the publication of many east and west coast language-related poets. His editorial and publishing activities brought the work of many established and emerging poets into the public view. Hickman has steadily gained posthumous recognition and fame for his poetry.Tribute to Leland Hickman
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Life and work

Early years

Hickman was born in

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coas ...

. He lived with his family in

Bakersfield Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

from 1937 to 1945. He attended Santa Barbara College, now

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduate ...

, and later studied at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, where he played with the Berkeley Drama Guild. After a tour in the Army, Hickman moved to New York City to continue his career in theater. In 1960 he returned to California to play at the Equity Library Theatre West in Los Angeles. After stints in New York City and San Francisco, Hickman settled permanently in Los Angeles with his partner, the actor Charles Macaulay.

Literary career

His literary career began in the middle 1960s with the publication of the poem "Lee Sr Falls to the Floor" in ''

The Hudson Review ''The Hudson Review'' is a quarterly journal of literature and the arts. History It was founded in 1947 in New York, by William Arrowsmith, Joseph Deericks Bennett, and George Frederick Morgan. The first issue was introduced in the spring of 194 ...

''. A book-length section of his serial poem, "Tiresias", entitled "Tiresias, Great Slave Lake Suite", was published by Momentum Press in 1980. It was named a finalist for the ''Los Angeles Times'' Book Award in Poetry. A second book, ''Lee Sr Falls to the Floor'' (which collected early poems and several sections of "Tiresias"), was published posthumously by Jahbone Press in 1991.

Publishing career

Hickman worked as a poetry editor for the Los Angeles literary magazine ''Bachy'', published by Papa Bach Bookstore, from 1977 to the spring of 1981. He edited issues nine to eighteen. In 1981, he co-founded with

Paul Vangelisti Paul Vangelisti (born 1945) is a United States poet and broadcaster. He graduated from the University of San Francisco in 1967 with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Philosophy. He attended Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, for a year as a researc ...

the magazine ''Boxcar: A Magazine of the Arts''. The magazine ran for two issues. In 1985, Hickman began publishing and editing ''Temblor'', which continued for ten issues.

Death

Hickman died in Los Angeles of AIDS-related causes. He was 56 years old.

Selected publications

*''Tiresias: The Collected Poems of Leland Hickman'', edited by Stephen Motika (Preface by Dennis Phillips and Afterwords by Bill Mohr), Nightboat Books, 2009.

References

External links

Tribute to Leland Hickman
links to this tribute sponsored by the Poetry Center, San Francisco State University on February 6, 2010. The event featured readers including: Todd Baron,

Beverly Dahlen Beverly Dahlen (born November 7, 1934) is an American poet who lives and works in San Francisco, CA. Life and work Dahlen is a native of Portland, Oregon, where she attended public schools. she moved with her family to Eureka, California, after W ...

, Kathleen Fraser, Larry Kearney,

Kevin Killian Kevin Killian (December 24, 1952 – June 15, 2019) was an American poet, author, editor, and playwright primarily of LGBT literature. ''My Vocabulary Did This to Me: The Collected Poetry of Jack Spicer'', which he co-edited with Peter Gizzi, wo ...

, Bill Mohr, Laura Moriarty
Leland Hickman’s ''Tiresias: The Collected Poems''
poet

Pierre Joris Pierre Joris (born July 14, 1946) is a Luxembourg-American poet, essayist, translator, and anthologist. He has moved between Europe, North Africa & the US for 55 years, publishing over 80 books of poetry, essays, translations & anthologies — mo ...

features Hickman on his blog in January 2010 to highlight a "Reading for Leland Hickman’s ''Tiresias: The Collected Poems'' which was held Jan. 13, 2010 at The Poetry Project @ St. Marks Church, NYC
Cd Shed Rage Shd Love Come
a review of Hickman's Collected Poems by

, featured at Amazon.com
Nightboat Publisher's page
publisher of ''Tiresias: The Collected Poems'', this site has information on Hickman's life and poetry, and updates on current events related to Hickman's resurgence

these are housed at the Mandeville Special Collections Library, Geisel Library,

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

Self & the Poem: Lee Hickman
this is an excerpt from a 1984 letter from Lee Hickman to Todd Baron and was first read by Todd Baron at the recent "Tribute to Leland Hickman" (link in list above). According to Robin Tremblay-McGaw, this letter concerns Hickman's engagement with the question/problem of the "self" in poetry {{DEFAULTSORT:Hickman, Leland 1934 births 1991 deaths American magazine editors American magazine founders Language poets AIDS-related deaths in California Male actors from California University of California, Santa Barbara alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Writers from Santa Barbara, California 20th-century American male actors 20th-century American poets 20th-century American non-fiction writers